


Beauty and the Beast

by Riley_2017



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riley_2017/pseuds/Riley_2017
Summary: Ricky Bowen finally got the girl of his dreams, but what happens when he realizes that she may just be the girl of his past. The new spring musical is coming up, and with it comes new love.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 12
Kudos: 28





	1. New beginnings

Ricky Bowen felt like a new person walking into the halls of East High. It’s a new semester and things were finally turning his way. Him and Nini were finally on the same page again after his confession of love after opening night and there was no better way to start the New Year. “Ricky! Over here”, Ricky saw Big red calling him over to the lockers and he ran over. “Hey, what’s going on?” “Oh nothing just waiting for my best friend to show his face since I haven’t seen him since the show.” Yeah, Ricky may have been totally wrapped up in Nini since the show, but it wasn’t his fault! She was just Nini and after fighting for her the whole semester he finally got her back.   
Ricky hadn’t even thought about the fact that he sort of abandoned everyone for the holiday break. He was just so wrapped up in everything and adjusting to his mom’s boyfriend Todd spending the holidays with him and his mom. “Red I’m sorry, I totally just got wrapped up in everything. I know I’ve been a shit friend.” “Hey, don’t worry about it I know it’s been rough with your mom and Todd. Plus you finally got the girl man!” “I know right, plus we have auditions tomorrow for beauty and the beast isn’t that insane!” Just as Ricky finished his excitement he saw Red space out behind him. Ricky turned around only to see the person he never expected to see again. Her soft curls bouncing with the faint smell of lavender and vanilla wafting behind her. 

“Woah, wait a minute since when did Gina get back?” Red asked, a look of confusion on his face. “And since when was she cool with E. J. ?” Ricky couldn’t register what Red was saying because all he could focus on was E. J.’s arm casually draped over Ginas shoulder, while Ashlynn rushed them down the hall to get to class. Gina must’ve not seen Ricky because she breezed past him without even a second look. “Earth to Ricky, hello!” “What, oh yeah I had no clue she was even back.” Red shrugged and pulled Ricky off to their first period class.

Ricky had been off the whole first half of the day. When he last saw Gina, she was getting ready to leave not planning on staying at East High for another semester. Gina and him had grown close the last couple of weeks of the semester. He could talk to her about things he couldn’t open up to Nini and Big Red about. Losing a parent in a divorce was something that neither of them would understand, and he didn’t want to drag them down into his problems. But Gina, he didn’t even have to explain his feelings, she just got it. They bonded over their similar home experiences, and had even become pretty good friends. At least that’s what he thought. So why wouldn’t she tell him he was staying? He could feel Nini shaking his shoulder, snapping out of it he turned to her and smiled. “What did you say?” Ricky asked smiling. “Oh, I was just talking about how excited I am about the auditions tomorrow,” Nini exclaimed. “ also can you believe Gina’s back, I’m so excited for her.” “Yeah, how did she end up staying, I thought they were moving to New York,” Ricky asked. “Yeah well apparently the Caswell’s took her in, which I’m so happy they did because somebody has to carry carlos’s choreography,” Kourtney added in. Everyone at the lunch table laughed and Carlos joined in saying “ look Gina can keep up so, you should be able to too.” His statement was met with looks of amazement at the statement. Then the whole table erupted in laughter. 

Ricky zoned out, looking around the cafeteria for a certain curly haired girl. What he found was the same image he saw earlier, E. J. walking in with Gina under his arm and Ashlynn trailing behind. His ears could hear her laugh across the cafeteria. Where as that sound would usually make him smile so hard his cheeks hurt, now it just made his stomach drop. They approached the table and were met with cheers of excitement from the rest of the table. “ thank god your back I have a dance number that I need you in to save my life.” “Well nice to see you too Carlos,” Gina laughed out. She said hey to everyone but for some reason Ricky couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes. His blood had run cold and he could feel himself drifting off. He looked up for a second to see her looking at him, bewilderment plastered on her face. She gave him a small smile that he returned, and then looked away. E. J.’s voice cut through his mind though, “ yeah I’m just happy our Gi could stay with me and Ashlynn this semester, it’s been so much fun having her since New Years.” “ Oh stop your gonna make me blush,” Gina lightly shoved E.J.’s shoulder while smiling at him the way she used to smile at Ricky. “Yeah well, we’ll catch you guys later, we need to finish online shopping for the rest of Gi’s stuff,” Ashlynn called. The group left and he glanced at Gina one last time to see her glance over her shoulder to meet his face one last time before being whisked away by the Caswell’s.   
Ricky finally walked out of the school to meet the brisk winter cold, Nini under his arm smiling brightly at him. “ Ricky are you okay, you’ve been out of it all day?” “Oh yeah, just been a long day, I’m worried about auditions tomorrow,” Ricky responded. “Well don’t be worried, you’re going to be amazing like always,” Nini said smiling back up at him. He returned the smile and hugged her closer, letting himself remember that he had everything he wanted. So why did he feel like something was still missing?   
Ricky finally made it to Big Red’s after dropping off Nini and promising to call her later. He collapsed on Red’s bed with a groan letting himself relax. “Dude, what’s going on with you, I thought you were excited for auditions tomorrow?” “Yeah, yeah, I am I guess I’m just starting to worry about it.” Red looked at him trying to gauge if he was telling the truth. Luckily for Ricky, he seemed to reluctantly accept the answer and dropped it. “Well shouldn’t you be going over to Nini’s to practice, it’ll probably soothe your nerves.” “Yeah I will in an hour, just wanted to see how you were coming along with your audition.” Red balked at him before saying, “ me, audition, you’re kidding right?” “No, your tap dancing is killer, and not to mention you have a great voice!” “I guess, I definitely would be an exceptional cogsworth,” Red responded smiling. “Alright dude, I’ll catch you later?” “Yeah for sure,” Ricky smiled at Red before heading up the basement stairs.   
One thing that Ricky was glad for the space to think on the ride over to Nini’s. He just didn’t understand why Gina wouldn’t have told him that she was coming back to East High. Yeah, things had ended on a weird note, with her not responding to his texts and essentially ghosting him. But, they were friends, at least he thought they were. Pulling up to Nini’s he was greeted by her moms smiling faces pulling him into a hug. Immediately all his thoughts of Gina melted away. Running up the stairs to Nini’s room he slowly pushed open the door. “Ricky! I thought you weren’t coming over tonight?” Nini exclaimed running up to hug him. “Yeah I know but I figured with the audition tomorrow we could practice so we can get leading roles together again.” Ricky smiled down at Nini and pressed a kiss to her temple, getting settled onto her bed next to her keyboard. “So, do you wanna go over your song choice for tomorrow?” “Yeah I think I’m going for an Adele song to showcase my lower range.” Ricky nodded,” that’s smart, Ms. Jenn has already seen you do well with your chest voice and falsettos.” “Thanks babe,” Nini said smiling. “So I was thinking we could do more than just practice our auditions,” Nini said leaning in. Ricky smiled going in for a kiss and melting at her touch. Ricky finally let himself lose himself in the moment and finally just stop thinking. This was the way things were meant to be, Nini and him being together was destiny. Right? 


	2. Can we talk?

It was a bad idea. Ricky walked into that gym and chose Nini. So why did Gina feel the constant urge to let him know she was going to be back at East High tomorrow morning. It’s not like they weren’t friends, well actually she didn’t know if they were friends or not. Gina knew she left on a sour note and had completely dismissed their blooming friendship. It was obvious when she saw him before the show that he was hurt, I mean he barely even looked at her. Yet, when he needed her she was there comforting me after his moms boyfriend showed up mid-show. But then the inevitable happened. She had been going to find Ricky after the show and she heard it. The proverbial shoe had dropped, and so did her stomach. Hearing Ricky admit to being in love with Nini since basically the day they were born made her wonder why she had even tried. So she walked away tears in her eyes, ready to run from everything the last five months had brought her. Then there was Ashlynn bounding towards her telling her she was staying for the next semester and she just assumed Gina’s tears were that of relief.  
Settling into the Caswell household wasn’t nearly as hard as she imagined it would be. E.J stayed at the house with her and Ashlynn’s parents, though she found they were gone more than they were around. Before they left they had bought her a whole new bedroom suite , Ashlynn’s mother shrugging and saying “I wanted new furniture in here anyway”. The action made Gina realize just how well off the Caswells were and honestly made her appreciate Ashlynn’s humbleness. The next week E.J. and Ashlynn went everywhere with her; picking out new furniture, decor, and even clothes. Although E.J. was dragged along more than half the trip, she found that his humor made him more enjoyable than she thought last semester. They spent the rest of winter break helping her get everything put together and make Gina feel welcome in her new home. They flew down her mom for New Years and they all celebrated at the Caswells winter cabin. Gina’s mom hated to admit it, but she had never seen Gina happier. So, the day she left to go back to New York there were tears in her eyes but she new their separation was best for Gina, she couldn’t be selfish with her daughter anymore. The rest of winter break was filled with movie nights and sing alongs with E.J. and Ashlynn and she had almost completely forgot about Ricky and Nini and where she fell into the mix at East High.  
That was until E.J. pulled her into the kitchen at breakfast a week before school started again, a look of concern on his face. “Are we going to talk about your feelings for Bowen or do you just plan on ignoring it for the rest of your high school experience.” Gina stared mouth agape “I have no idea what your talking about,” she said looking away pretending to grab juice. “Oh come on Gina, I saw the way you looked at him the night of the show. That wasn’t nothing.” “Look I liked him a little bit, but he’s with Nini so there’s nothing I can do about it. Plus I have you guys.” Gina responded with what she hoped was an expression of happiness. “Gina, the way that you looked at him was not a little crush. When he let go of your hand, I saw your face. That wasn’t happiness for a friend falling back in love with his ex.” “E.J. I know you mean well but can you just drop it this once.” She stared on hoping he would pick on the fact that she would rather break a bone than talk about Ricky Bowen and Nini Salazar-Roberts. He reached down and pulled her into a hug, his face nuzzled in her hair and whispered “ you deserve better than being a second option Gi.” Gina could feel the tears start to prickle her eyes and gave E.J. A squeeze and pulled away. “Thanks E.J. I know you have my back and it means a lot. You know we’ve come a long way from me pouring punch on you at homecoming”, Gina said as she bumped his hip with her own. He smiled and shook his head “yeah, yeah, I deserved it honestly”, he ruffled her hair and brought her in the dinning room with the rest of the Caswells and Gina could feel herself being wrapped back up in the warmth of the house, laughing at the joy of it all.  
Saying she was over Ricky and having to face him at school were two very different things. As she hopped out of E.J.’s jeep her stomach dropped at the thought of seeing them together in the halls. Ashlynn walked up behind her, “ you’re ready for this, right?” She said with a squeeze of Gina’s hand. “Yeah I’m ready, I mean I have the two best people in the world walking in with me right,” Gina said with a smile. “Damn right Porter”, E.J. said throwing an arm over her shoulder and pulling her close as they walked in the double doors of the school. They managed to make it halfway down the main hallway before she saw it. Curly brown hair barely visible above the crowd. She could see Big Red staring at her with a confused look on his face and she smiled back at him. E.J. pulled her close “ just breathe we’re almost past him”. Gina turned to look at E.J, a look of gratitude on her face before they separated on their respective way to class. She had Ashlynn hooked onto her elbow while they made it to first period English. She looked around the classroom and let out a sigh of relief. No curly hair, no Ricky Bowen. Looks like her day was starting to turn around. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly she had most of her classes with Ashlynn and one with Nini, which she didn’t mind. She had come to grow fond of Nini as a friend. She was caring and understanding in a way that was hard to find in high school. She could see what E.J. and Ricky saw in her, but that didn’t make it any easier. Lunch finally rolled around and she met up with Ashlynn and E.J; the latter of which was hanging out with his water polo friends. “Hey boys, do you mind if we steal away E.J. for a bit?” Ashlynn asked. “No problem, just make sure he makes it to practice okay”, one of the boys said before they turned to E.J. whispering something before they burst out into laughter. E.J looked annoyed and grabbed Gina and Ashlynn, pulling them in the direction of the cafeteria. “What was that about” Ashlynn asked. “Yeah what was that”, “some of the water polo guys are throwing a party this weekend and there are a few who have their eyes on Gina. They think we have something going on though.” E.J. said with a roll of his eyes. “Awww does someone have a crush on little old me” Gina replied with a look of amusement on her face. “Whatever”, E.J. replied giving her a shove. The trio walked into the cafeteria erupting in laughter. Then Gina’s stomach dropped as she saw, it. Nini’s arms wrapped around his neck while he gives her his most dazzling smile. She looked up towards Ashlynn, unsure of what to do. Then she saw Kourtney waving them over. She shook her head feeling dumb, these were her friends and not even Ricky was going to get in the way of that. “Thank God your back Gina, I thought my choreography was going to have to be dumbed down” Carlos said with a look of disgust. Gina burst into laughter a good to see you too dancing off of her lips. She could feel his eyes boring into her, she just couldn’t look his way. They said hey to all of their other friends and then Ashlynn and E.J pulled them away saying they had something to do or somewhere to be. She honestly wasn’t listening, the image of the newly loved up couple playing in her brain over and over again. “Hey why don’t we cut the rest of the day and go grab some pizza” Ashlynn asked. “Only if we go to Big Red’s families place, we shop local here” E.J. said with a smile. Gina nodded in agreement and they climbed into his car. She couldn’t remember pulling up to Papa’s pizzeria, but she knows they ordered already. She focused on what Ashlynn was saying after she bumped her a little. “ I can’t believe we’re doing Beauty and the Beast. This is gonna be amazing, I hope I get miss Potts. She’s the true star of the show”. “Oh is that right” E.J. said with a laugh. “Wait were doing Beauty and the Beast already?” “Yeah auditions are tomorrow, I thought we told you already? “ Gina nodded remembering Ash mentioning something of the sorts. “Well I guess I’ll look for a song tonight” Gina replied. “Oh you just have to audition for Belle” Ashlynn exclaimed. “Yeah, you never know maybe I’ll get to be your beast” E.J. said winking at her. “Oh yeah, the man of my dreams. Please tell me more” she said with an eye roll. The food arrived and the conversation died off as they dug into their food. E.J. paid and before they knew it they were headed home so E.J. could drop them off and head to practice. Ash and Gina were working in Gina’s room trying to figure out their auditions for tomorrow when Gina heard her phone ding. She picked it up assuming it was E.J. saying he was headed home but that would be too simple. Instead she stared at the three words attached to the name she didn’t want to see at all. _Can we talk?_ _“Can we talk”_ Ashlynn repeated with a look of bewilderment. “What the hell is there to talk about?” “You’ve got me” Gina said shrugging her shoulders. “Well he’s with Nini so it’s probably going to be something along the lines of hey bestie know we haven’t talked since you basically saved me from having a panic attack; but, that’s because after you saved me I ran back to my ex and have my head shoved up her ass. What about you?” Gina snorted at Ashlynn’s statement pinching the bridge of her nose, the dread of having the conversation already washing over her. “I don’t know Ash but I’m over it seriously. I know before the whole thanksgiving fiasco we were hanging out all the time. And he was serenading me with those big brown eyes. And so what if I developed a somewhat mild crush on him. He’s with Nini now and I’m fine! Seriously A-okay Gina over here” she said with a forced smile. Ashlynn snorted “yeah just keep telling yourself that”. Gina threw herself on her bed, regretting she even picked up her phone. Right then E.J. walked in the door freshly showered after practice. “What’s wrong with her?” He said pointing down to Gina’s bed. “Oh nothing Ricky just wants to talk” ash responded with air quotes around the text Ricky sent. E.J. let out a snort “yeah now he wants to talk now that he knows she’s back. Even though everyone else already knew but whatever. Look Gi you don’t have to have any conversation you don’t want to have. It’s all up to you okay?” E.J. said squeezing her thigh. She looked up from her bed and pulled the Caswells into a hug thinking about how lucky she had gotten in finding her two best friends. “I love you guys” she said pulling them onto her bed. “Come on let’s get ready for tomorrow. I’ll worry about the “can we talk” after we get through auditions” she said with a smile. She meant that, as much as she liked Ricky and was itching to talk to him, performing meant more to her. She couldn’t mess this up, not after she had worked so hard to be here. E.J. looked up at her again “seriously why Ricky though?” “I don’t know, he saved me after the homecoming embarrassment. And I’m totally not blaming you for that, it was mainly my fault with the stupid plan. He was honest with me though and he understood my family problems and didn’t judge me for it. It was the first time I really felt like I had a friend, ya know?” E.J.slowly nodded “I get it, we were kind of hard on you when you first got here. It makes since”. “Speak for yourself i knew there was a heart of gold under that hard core, bitchy exterior”. “Thanks Ash”, Gina said laughing. They practiced their auditions the rest of the night laughing and just enjoying each other’s presence before they were off to bed. The day daunting on Gina’s mind she shut off her light and hoped for a better day tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter was way easier to make. Hopefully you guys like it!


	3. Calling casting

The day of auditions were always stressful for theater students, but especially for Ricky Bowen. He got his leading role last semester on a whim. He just wanted to win back Nini, but somehow he found a family in the group of strangers he worked with. In a time where his family was disintegrating in front of his eyes, there were people on stage with him putting those pieces back in place. Ashlynn, who was now kind of dating Big Red, was one of the sweetest, most selfless people he had met. Then you had Kourtney who’s talent rivaled that of anyone in the room. Even E.J., although a little conceited, helped Ricky learn and grow. Yet, none of them made him feel like he belonged more than Gina. That night at the skatepark, where she told him he had his own style, that stuck with him. While Nini thought he was going to ruin the show, Gina thought he was making it special. In the end Ricky needed to be Troy more than he knew, and now was his chance to be apart of a family again.   
The day seemed to drag on more than usual in Ricky’s mind. He looked at Kourtney, who was in his math class, and could see the nervous excitement bubbling as each minute passed. He, on the other hand, was just nervous. It had been twelve hours since he had texted Gina and she hadn’t responded. Something felt different, she was distant and guarded when before she was warm and welcoming. Before she left he had stopped by her house and knocked until his knuckles were bruised. He thought she just didn’t want to see him, but maybe he just hadn’t tried hard enough to see her. Regardless, he needed to focus on getting the role of the beast so that he could play opposite of Nini again. Just as he was about to run through his audition song in his head again, the bell rang and everyone jumped up.   
Kourtney ran to Ricky and grabbed his arm shouting “come on, we’re going to be late” over her shoulder as she ran. Ricky laughed and held on tight as she rounded the corner. They burst through the double doors of the auditorium and saw Carlos and Seb already sitting on the stage. Ricky walked up and hugged them as Nini and Natalie walked in with a few new auditionnées. Miss Jenn walked in and with a clap of her hands had everyone standing at attention. Right then Gina, Ashlynn, and E.J. came from the wings of the stage whispering while Miss Jenn discussed the audition process. “So we’re going to start with a dance combo taught by Carlos. Then we will do a short monologue followed by a one minute sample of the song of your choice”. Everyone jumped up and signed their name in while pinning a number onto their shirts.   
Carlos clapped his hands “alright my little twinkle toes, let’s see what y’a got. We’re gonna start with a simple 8 count, I want to see Gina and Kyle up front please.” No one questioned his orders and followed in behind Gina and Kyle. The eight count was a simple dance to be our guest that everyone picked up on pretty quickly, including Ricky. The rest of the audition process was pretty quick, Ricky was too nervous to watch anyone else and soon enough it was over. Nini grabbed onto his arm pulling him to his feet “come on let’s go grab a bite to eat Miss Jenn said the cast list won’t be up until six, plus everybody else is going!” “Where are we going?” “Oh the Pizza palace obviously” Nini said with a laugh. Ricky climbed in the car smiling while watching Nini and Big Red argue about whether pineapple really belonged on pizza.  
They were discussing who they thought were gonna get each role as they walked into Pizza Palace. Once they walked in, they were greeted with cheers from the other musical theater kids. Ricky smiled and they slid into a table in the middle of everyone. Once they settled in and ordered he finally took in his surrounding. Kourtney was at a table with Seb, Carlos, and Laura ( one of the other dancers). While Big Red, Nini, and himself were in the middle row of tables. To Ricky’s left sat Ashlynn, Gina, E.J., and Kyle in a booth pressed against a window on the wall. That isn’t what caught Ricky’s eye though, it was Gina tucked firmly under E.J.’s arm smiling at something Kyle had said.  
He didn’t mind her next to E.J. that much, it was the way she was looking at Kyle. It was the way she had looked at him in his car on homecoming night. Kyle was one of E.J.’s water polo friends who had taken a liking to Gina. Last semester, Gina was the new girl who no one had ties to. So, obviously every single guy had taken an interest in her. I mean she was crazy talented, she was kind, and she was beautiful which is also why Ricky had gotten sucked into her as well. He started to get this sick feeling in his stomach, his skin turning hot when he felt something hit his head. “Huh, what” Ricky questioned startled. “I was asking if you were listening to anything we were saying” Nini giggled. “Oh no, I’m just distracted with auditions.” Ricky said rubbing the back of his neck. He smiled and leaned into kiss Nini, only to see Big Red giving him a weird look. Ricky smiled and took a bite of pizza focusing on Nini and what she was saying, brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. “You know I think it’s almost six. we should all head back to school to see the cast list!” Nini exclaimed. Ricky agreed and everyone cleared out of The Pizza palace to head back to East High.   
Everyone pulled up at East high and ran to the bulletin board trying to get the first look at the cast list. All of a sudden there were cheers of excitement and people jumping in excitement as Ricky pushed himself to the front. His jaw dropped, he couldn’t believe it.   
  


Cast List

Belle - Gina Porter

Beast - E.J. Caswell

Gaston - Kyle Hannon

Lumiere - Ricky Bowen 

Cogsworth - Big Red

Mrs. Potts - Ashlynn Caswell 

Chip - Sebastian 

Babette - Nini Salazar-Roberts 

Wardrobe - Kourtney 

Lefou - Carlos 

Bimbette - Laura Towley

Bimbette 2 - Jane Forester 

Nini ran up to him and squeezed him “we get to be partners again! I know it’s not the leading role like you wanted, but Lumière still is a great role”. Ricky nodded smiling he still couldn’t believe it, he got to spend another semester with his family. Yet something, still, was bothering him that he couldn’t quite place. He smiled at Nini laughing and pulled her and Big Red into a hug, they went to go congratulate Carlos on being in the cast when he saw her. She had her arms wrapped around Ashlynn cheering before she saw Nini and ran up to her, giving her a squeeze. “Congratulations my princess”, Nini said curtsying to Gina. Gina laughed and curtsied back, “my Babette, it is you who is the true princess” they both erupted into laughter and turned to Carlos. “Honestly I can’t believe you two weirdos weren’t attached at the hip the moment you met”, “yeah well hostile theft missions to sabotage the other one will derail all tracks of friendship” Nini replied smiling. “Yeah that and an enormous ego mixed in with some stubbornness and you’ve got a real recipe for friendship” Gina replied. “Congrats Gi, you’ll be great as Belle” Ricky said smiling at her. She nodded and gave a curt smile “we’ll have to wait and see how that French accent turns out for you though”. Ricky laughed heartily and Gina smiled back, one of her genuine, dazzling smiles. Finally she had acknowledged him for the first time she had been back. Then Kyle and E.J. walked up and the bubble that they had been in popped. E.J. grabbed Gina and twirled her in the air while Kyle waited his turn smiling. Ricky looked down at Nini and grabbed her hand, forcing himself back into the conversation that she and Ashlynn were having. “Mrs. Potts is a literal icon, and having Seb as my child,” Ashlynn said raising her hands and smiling. “Honestly Miss Jenn couldn’t have done better with the cast list. Gina is going to be beautiful as Belle, she has that great alto voice. Plus, Kourtney as the head of the design department and playing the Wardrobe, who’s basically an opera star” Nini responded. “Oh I know, when I say that it was like a lightbulb went off. genius”. Ricky finally interrupted “hey guys are y’all ready to head out. I need to go see what my dads doing for dinner and call my mom to tell her the news.”   
Nini nodded, forgetting how late it was getting “yeah let me just say goodbye to everyone and we could head out.” Ricky nodded grabbing Red and ruffling his hair while he was talking to Ashlynn. “You guys ready to go?” “Yeah, bye guys we’ll see y’all tomorrow” Ricky said waving to everyone else. He draped his arm over Nini’s shoulder and pulled her towards him while Big Red fake gagged at them. Ricky dropped off Nini first, with a quick goodbye and a peck on the lips.  
Then he was left with Red. “What’s going on with you dude?” Red asked. “What are you talking about?” “You know what I’m talking about Ricky. You haven’t been yourself since Gina’s been back, and if don’t stop looking at her like you’ve been shot in the foot, people are going to start making assumptions”. “I do not look at her like I’ve been shot in the foot! I’m just confused. I texted her and asked if we could talk last night and she never responded. I don’t know if she’s mad at me, or if I did something to make her mad. I just wanna know how she’s doing.” Ricky sighed. “No offense Ricky but what makes you think you deserve that information.” “What” Ricky said incredulously. “Oh come on you reached out to her two or three times after thanksgiving, then she shows up opening night and you shrug her off. You acted like she had just murdered your dog.” “I so did not!” “Hey I’m not done. Then she saves you on opening night and helps you get your relationship back, and you don’t even turn around to thank her!” Ricky swallowed thickly feeling all the guilt from Big Red’s words that he knew were true. “I didn’t know she felt that way.” “What was she supposed to do Ricky. She needed a friend and you weren’t there. Now she has E.J. and Ashlynn though so it’s not as bad. I bet if you, I don’t know maybe apologized she would, maybe be your friend again.” Red said shrugging with a smile. “Dude, I messed up.” Ricky said dragging his hands across his face. “Yeah well now you get to make it up. Are you sure you’re just upset that she’s not speaking to you right now?” Red questioned. “Yeah, what else would it be?” Ricky asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. “Well, the way you were looking at Gina and E.J. today was not a friendly way. You looked jealous.” “Red, I’m with Nini, literally the most perfect person I’ve ever met. I’m not in love with Gina I just miss her.” Ricky sighed. “Okay just don’t confuse your feelings of friendship dude. I’ll see ya later.” Red waved as he walked up to his doorstep. Ricky nodded and drove off home, thinking about what Red said. He didn’t love Gina he just needed her to answer the damn phone so he could talk to her, he just wanted to see if she was okay. Although, if he was being honest with himself she looked more than okay with the Caswells, she looked happy.   
Ricky would be happy for her, if that’s what she wanted. She helped him get Nini, and she helped him get back on the stage. She deserved happiness. But still, seeing her being so close to E.J., and now Kyle made him feel sick. Probably because E.J. took his place, he was now Gina’s best friend along with Ashlynn. Ricky was no longer needed to make Gina happy, that’s what bothered him. Ricky finally pulled up to his house, exhausted, walking into the front door. “Hey kiddo, how were auditions?” “Great dad, I got lumière and Nini is Babette.” Ricky said smiling. “That’s great! Look I cooked some spaghetti but just let me know if it’s indigestible and we’ll order pizza.” Ricky’s dad shrugged rubbing the back of his neck with a shy smile. “I’m sure it’ll be fine dad, but trust me I’ll let you know if it isn’t.” Ricky laughed. After dinner Ricky hopped in the shower and thought about what he was going to do with Nini tomorrow night for date night. It was Friday and they promised that every Friday they would make a date night, just the two of them. Pizza palace was getting pretty old, so he thought they could go out to the new burger joint and go to the mini golf place next door. Mid thought he heard his phone chime.   
  


Gina Porter:

” _yeah we can talk”_


	4. She could do this, Right?

Gina could not believe that she was going to be Belle. Reading the cast list and seeing her name next to Belle made all of the air leave her lungs. Laughter bubbled out of her as E.J. wrapped her in his arms and twirled her around. “I knew you would be Belle, you are perfect for the role. Plus, now you get to live out your fantasy of being in love with me for five whole months.” E.J. said with a smirk slapped on his face. “Oh my prince, whatever would I do without you”, Gina said sighing with her hands clasping an imaginary bouquet of flowers.   
Kyle walked up and congratulated her with a smile before Ashlynn, Carlos, and Nini did the same. She squeezed Nini and congratulated her before Nini whispered in her ear “you’re going to be amazing, but if you need anything you know we’re to find me”. She smiled and squeezed her hand and Gina smiled, thankful for their new bond.   
“Alright guys, you ready to head out”, E.J. grabbing Ashlynn away from Big Red. “Oh yeah, for sure. I guess.” Ashlynn said taking one last look at Big Red. They climbed in that car and E.J. turned around staring at Ashlynn with a weird look on his face. “What the hell are you doing?” Ashlynn asked with a grimace. “Oh nothing, just wondering why you didn’t tell me you were dating Big Red” E.J. yelled. “Wait, what! You’re dating Big Red? I knew you had feelings for each other but I didn’t know it was that serious.” Gina said wiggling her eyebrows. “Oh my god, see this is why I didn’t tell you E.J. We just started, sort of, dating I guess. Plus it’s literally none of your business.” “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was a crime to protect my baby cousin.” “Oh please, you just don’t want her dating someone like you” Gina chimed in with a scoff. “Um, no. I just don’t want her dating anyone”, E.J. replied offended. Just then, the trio pulled up and filed into the house, ready to relax after the long day.   
“Hey kids, did y’all want dinner or did y’all grab some food after school?” Ashlynn’s mom called out. “No mom, we got some food after school. Guess what though! I got the role of the iconic Mrs. Potts in the spring musical! Plus E.J.’s playing the Beast AND Gina is playing Belle!” “Oh my god, my little babies! I’m so proud of you guys!” Ashlynn’s mom grabbed them all and wrapped them into an earth shattering hug. “Gina we have to call your mom and tell her the good news!” Ashlynn’s mom ran and grabbed her phone and called Gina’s mom. Gina was grateful for Mrs. Caswell. She has welcomed her into her home and made her feel like family in the span of a month. Surprisingly, her mom loved her also, it was probably because of the daily updates Mrs.Caswell would give my mom every night. But, regardless I was grateful for it.   
After the phone call Gina decided to head up to her room and take a shower before heading to bed. Subconsciously she started twirling her phone in her fingers, chewing her bottom lip. She just couldn’t shake the want to text back Ricky. She missed him, and even if he didn’t like her the way she liked him, wasn’t just being his friend enough? Gina sighed and rubbed her hand over her face deciding that taking a shower would help her relax and think it over. She opened up her phone to put on a playlist for the shower but her finger hovered over her messages. She opened up Ricky’s text again, mulling it over. Screw it. She fingers tapped out the message quickly and she hit send before she could think about it. Sighing she turned on her music and climbed in the shower. Gina got out, after she was done, and got dressed and finished her skincare routine before walking into her room. A sudden shriek left her mouth as she was greeted with Ashlynn sitting on her bed. “What the hell Ashlynn!” Gina yelled. “Shhh Gina calm down, I need help.” “ Help with what?” Gina asked. “Look, I do like Big Red okay and there may have been a kiss” A KISS?!” Gina yelled. “Ashlynn Caswell, I cannot believe you would keep this from me. Tell me everything now. Was it soft and sweet, or steamy and breath taking?” “Okay Gina, not helping for one. For two it was sweet and breathtaking all at the same time and I need help.” “What do you need help with”, Gina questioned. “Since the kiss things have been, I don’t know, awkward. I want him to ask me out but he hasn’t yet, and every time we try to have any sort of conversation we’re interrupted.” Ashlynn rushes out with a sigh. “For starters, you keep getting interrupted so that’s your first problem. Secondly, why don’t you just ask him to go hang out. Somewhere with just the two of you, then he might pluck up the courage to ask you out. There’s only one true problem.” Gina drew out. “E.J.” Gina and Ashlynn whispered simultaneously. “Look, if you and Big Red need time alone, I am perfectly willing to distract E.J. for the night.” “Gina, I could actually kiss you right now.” “Don’t tempt me with a good time” Gina said with a wink. “Okay, just let me know when you need me to distract your cousin. I want blissful details of love in return” Gina called out as Ashlynn left her room. Gina smiled to herself happy to help out Ashlynn in any way she could. A buzz on her nightstand interrupted her thoughts of Ashlynn and Big Red. Completely forgetting about her text earlier, Gina climbed over her bed to grab her phone.

Ricky:

_Skatepark in thirty?_

Gina sighed, she knew this wasn’t a good idea. Something still drew her in, she wanted to see him. She pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with a puffer jacket and walked up to E.J.’s door.   
Nervously, she knocked on the door waiting for what she knew would be an uncomfortable discussion. E.J. opened his door in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, hair still wet from his shower. “Hey, did you need something Gi?” “Yeah actually, um could you drop me off at the skatepark?” “Gina come on, please tell me you’re not going to see Ricky” E.J. said sighing. “Look, I know what you’re going to say but he just wants to talk”, Gina said trying to seem nonchalant. “Gi, do you not remember how hurt you were when he chose her. I know he was just a friend but you care too much about people who don’t care enough about you.” E.J. said reaching out to hold her hand. Gina sighed “I know, I do, that’s why I need to go and do this”. E.J. nodded and turned around to throw on a jacket and some shoes. They told Mrs.Caswell they were just going to pick up some dessert really quick to celebrate and she nodded. The drive was silent, E.J.’s jaw clenched the entire time. Gina studied his rigid posture and knew that he truly cared about her well being. They pulled up to the skatepark and Gina moved to get out of the car. E.j.’s hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. He studied her eyes “text me when you’re ready, okay?” Gina nodded in reply.   
Walking in to the skatepark, Gina nervously ringed her hands looking for Ricky in the crowd. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. There he was, in all of his curly haired, brown eyed glory. Immediately Gina’s voice was stuck. She was left staring at him her mouth agape trying to form words. Despite her best efforts no noise could come out. She felt like her shoulder was on fire, the imprint of his hand burned there forever. She was stuck in the flecks of gold looking back at her, feet unmoving under his gaze. Time stopped for Gina, she could feel all of her anger dissipate under his gaze. It was then she finally heard Ricky calling her name “wh-what did you say?” Gina asked. “I was wondering if you wanted to go upstairs, where it’s a little quieter?” “Um yeah, sure.” Gina said nodding and following his lead.   
They finally got to a table and were looking down at the skaters on the floor below. “So, you wanted to talk” Gina asked. “Yeah Gi, we haven’t talked since I’ve seen you at school. You’ve been different, I guess.” Ricky said. Gina stared at him for a minute. “You didn’t try to talk to me, I’m confused.” “I did try, I texted you and you didn’t respond to me so. I don’t know, I guess, I thought you were mad at me for something.” Ricky stuttered out finally. “ I’m not mad, just busy with getting settled into the Caswells.” Gina replied nodding a little. “Yeah, I forgot you were staying with Ashlynn and I guess E.J. too, right?” Ricky asked. “Yeah E.J.’s there too, his parents are working in LA right now on a new development. Plus he’s Ashlynn and I’s personal driver.” Gina said with a laugh. Ricky chuckled “I bet he just loves that.” “You know, he doesn’t hate it as much as I want him to.” Gina said with a confused look. Ricky suddenly got quite “I really missed you Porter”. “I missed you too Bowen” Gina responded, trying to calm her heart rate. “So do you think we could, maybe, hang out again?” Ricky asked shyly. Gina nodded “yeah I’d like that.” “Well, I’ve got to get back to my place Nini’s coming over for dinner and I need to skate back.” Ricky abruptly said. “Oh yeah, no, of course.” Gina said, startled back into reality. “E.J.’s waiting so I should probably go too. I’ll talk to you later though” Gina shouted out, grabbing her things and hurrying out to E.J.’s car.   
She didn’t stop to look back until she saw the familiar black Jeep. She hopped in the car and saw E.J. examining her, he sighed “so?” “So what?” Gina asked. “So, how did your conversation with wonder boy go” he asked while pulling out of the parking lot. “It went. Well we’re friends again, I guess” Gina responded. “So I’m assuming the crush that was so gone, is not, in fact, so far gone” E.J. asked. Gina only groaned in response, covering her eyes. “Can we please just go grab some Ice cream so I can drown my sorrows in chocolatey goodness” Gina pleaded with her best puppy dog eyes. “Alright! Jesus Gi you didn’t have to turn on the theatrics here” E.J. said laughing.   
They walked into their local ice cream store called Old Dutch. Gina ordered chocolate peanut butter and E.J. ordered cookies and cream and they climbed back in the car. “So, i never asked how you’ve been doing. I mean, with the whole losing Nini thing and then the confession binge.” Gina softly asked. “Yeah” he sighed “not my finest hours honestly. I’m fine though, I mean I’m the lead in the musical and I still have all of my friends. And you and Ashlynn.” E.J. said nodding. “You know I’m your friend too now.” Gina responded. “Yeah, I know” E.J. said studying Gina’s face. He suddenly turned back and started up the car heading home.   
Once they got home E.J. rushed up stairs yelling a hello down to his aunt. She wondered what had just happened in the car but headed upstairs with her ice cream, not questioning it.   
Gina closed the door and took of her shoes. She pulled out her phone and saw two notifications. On was from Ashlynn wondering where her and E.J. went so Gina shot her a text telling her what had happened. The other was from Ricky 

_im glad we talked. And that you don’t hate me. Talk to you later?_

_yeah talk to you later loser.  
_ Gina responded with an eye roll and a snicker. She could do this. I mean she was almost over her crush. Plus Nini and Ricky would be together all of the time so there would be a buffer. She could do this. She could totally be friends with Ricky. Right? __  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be some feelings E.J. is developing for our leading lady. Is Ricky going to get jealous? Or will the prince get the princess.


	5. Late night convos never make for any good

Ricky drove home thinking about what had just happened. It felt good to see Gina and know she wasn’t mad at him. The relief of her agreeing to be friends washed over him, but when he saw her jump in the car with E.J. a memory jumped to the forefront of his mind. The smell of lavender and vanilla wrapping around him, clear lipgloss stained on his cheek. Homecoming night she was in his car, not E.J.’s. He wasn’t jealous though, just bothered by the fact that he seemed to be replaced by E.J., right?  
He finally pulled up to his house and could see Nini with his dad through the kitchen window. He smiled thinking of the domesticity of it all. Walking in to the house he was greeted with the warm feel of the fire and the smell of stew. “Hey babe, we were just talking about the musical. Where’d you go?” Nini asked. “Oh, I just dropped by the skatepark to clear my head...I ran into Gina there too.” Ricky said clearing his throat. “Gina was there?” Nini asked. “Yeah she was actually there with E.J.” “That makes sense I’m pretty sure him and his water polo friends all have crushes on her” Nini replied nodding. “They do” Ricky questioned while making their bowls of stew and toasting some French bread. “Yeah, you know she started hanging out with them a lot over winter break. Also, they’re supposed to be throwing a party this Saturday and Kyle invited all of us.” “Kyle, the new kid?” Ricky asked. “Mhmm I’m pretty sure he’s using it as an excuse to hang out with Gina though” Nini said as she started eating. “Who said you could go out Saturday?” Ricky’s dad said jokingly. Ricky rolled his eyes “like you wouldn't want me off of your back for a night” he responded. “As long as you kids stick together I’m fine with it” Ricky’s dad said. The rest of the dinner went smoothly, but Ricky couldn’t stop thinking about Saturday night.  
The next day Ricky met Big Red at their lockers with a nod. “Hey so how did last night go?” Red asked. “It went pretty good, I don’t know if we’re back where we were at, at thanksgiving. It’s a step in the right direction though. What’s going on with you an ash?” Ricky asked. “Nothing. Every time I try to talk to her or get her alone we’re interrupted by someone or something. Well mostly E.J.” Red said scowling while closing his locker door. Ricky closed his locker and turned to face Red “speak of the devil and he shall appear” he chuckled. Just then Red turned around to see E.J., Kyle, Ashlynn, and Gina walking in together. Ashlynn and Gina then suddenly said goodbye to the boys and started making their way over to Ricky and Red. “Hey guys! What’s up?” Ashlynn called out. Ricky and Red both said hey back, but Red was only looking at Ashlynn when he said it. “So I heard E.J.’s throwing a party this Saturday” Ricky stated. “I was going to ask you a favor about that actually. Is it okay if me and Ash get a ride with you and Nini?” Red asked. “Why? Ash, I thought it was y’all’s family home?” “It is! It’s just me and Red haven’t had a chance to really hangout and we definitely won’t be able to at the party” Ashlynn responded in a pleading tone. “In that case I would love to be your driver for the night” laughed Ricky. Then suddenly he turned to Gina “do you need a ride too Gi?” “Cramped in a car with two couples, no thanks plus I’m going up there early with E.J. to help set everything up” Gina said nodding. Before Ricky could say anything else Ash and Big Red said goodbye and headed towards their class together.   
“So...” Ricky drew out. “So” responded Gina. “I’m glad we’re talking again” “I’m glad we’re talking too. I’ll text you later.” Gina called out before she headed to her class. Ricky turned to watch her walk away smiling to himself. He was glad he could talk to Gina again, she was truly a good friend.   
As Ricky walked into his first period class he spotted Red and Nini sitting at the back of the class and shuffled back to them. Once he sat down he gave Nini a quick peck and asked her how her SAT session had gone. She told him about how she felt more confident this time and was really going for a 1300 but Ricky suddenly got distracted by the group in front of them. It was Kyle and some of his and E.J.’s water polo friends. They were huddled together talking about the party on Saturday. “So E.J. did say Gina and Laura were coming” Kyle said. “That makes it pretty even between guys and girls then” responded on of the other jocks. “Honestly we’re surprised you haven’t moved in on Gina. We all know you have a thing for her” a tall kid with brown hair said. Ricky thought his name was Vinnie but he wasn’t sure. “The whole team thought she was hot, it wasn’t just me. But, I’ve been hanging out with Liv more and I’m going to ask her out Saturday. I’m pretty sure Gina likes someone else anyway.” Ricky could hear the rest of the guys whispering about who stood the best chance when Nini had called his name twice pulling his focus back on her. “You okay?” she asked. “Just zoned out a little, thinking about our date on Friday” he said cheerily. “Babe! That’s so sweet. You did agree to take Ash and Red with us to the party on Saturday though right?” Nini asked. “Yes he agreed, barely” Big Red added with a smile. Ricky laughed and just then the teacher walked in starting their Trig class and everyone focused their attention at the front of the class. Ricky was focused on something a little more than Trig though.   
He spent most of the class thinking about what Kyle had said. He was glad that he had moved on to Liv, who was a senior cheerleader. The part about Gina liking someone else bothered him though. He figured they weren’t close enough for him to be privy to that information. Once class let out he went through the rest of his day thinking about his date with Nini and trying to make sure he had everything sorted out before Friday. This was their first official date since they had gotten back together and he didn’t want to mess anything up.   
School finally let out and Ricky had walked up to his car when he saw Gina, E.J., and Ashlynn arguing about something. He caught Gina’s eye and shot her a wave and a smile. He saw Gina smile and wave back but E.J. gave him a weird look. Ricky chalked it up to whatever they were talking about and got in his car to drive home. He greeted his dad in the kitchen and was about to head up the stairs before his dad stopped him. “Ricky, I know you’re still young but I want to make sure if anything happens Saturday you can call me” Ricky’s dad said. “Dad come on” cried Ricky. “No, I’m serious. Look if you have a drink or two and can’t drive just call me. I’m not going to be mad I know you’re going up and this is going to happen and I just want to make sure you’re safe” “thanks dad I appreciate, seriously. I’ll make sure to give you a call before I get in any trouble okay” Ricky said clasping his dads shoulder before running up the stairs. “Now do we need to have the birds and the bees talk again” Ricky’s dad shouted up the stairs. Ricky slammed the door shut in response, quivering at the thought of having another sex talk with his dad. Ricky laid on his bed thinking about his plans with Nini, but his thoughts kept drifting to what he overheard Kyle said. Ricky picked up his phone and shot off a quick text to Gina.   
_heard you have a crush_

Ricky smiled, short and simple. He set his phone down and a minute later heard a ding. He picked it up and let out a snort once he read it.

_who told you, I made Ashlynn swear to never tell anyone about my secret love for Mr.Mazzara ;).  
_  
_so that’s who’s had you so preoccupied recently_

_Yeah between harboring this secret and moving my entire life here I’ve barely had time to breathe_

_Mr. Mazzara does leave me quite breathless._

_Ricky Bowen do I have to tell Nini you’re having secret thoughts about someone else_

Ricky’s breathe caught in his throat. He didn’t know why he felt nervous all of a sudden but figured it would be best to change the subject. 

_do you wanna do me a favor Gi?_

  
_sure Ricky what’s up?_

_would you like going on a date to a bowling alley or mini golf more?_

_probably mini golf, you don’t have to wear public shoes when doing that. Why?_

_just figuring out me and Nini’s date for Friday. See you tomorrow?_

_yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Ricky_

_Goodnight Gi_

Ricky sighed and turned off his phone. He thought about Nini and how hard it was to get her back and how they were meant to be. He couldn’t imagine his life without Nini, he hadn’t had to until he couldn’t say those stupid three words. He said them after the show though, so now it wasn’t a problem anymore. He meant it when he said them, at least he thought he did. His mom and dads split had messed with him. When Nini had made that song and was basically asking him to say it back, he couldn’t. He had just been abandoned by his mom and the only symbol of love he had, had just fallen apart. Instead of being understanding or supporting that Nini went to camp and came back with a new boyfriend. He understood for the most part, he publicly humiliated her on social media, so he was to blame. Something about it just felt off though. During winter break his relationship with Nini was amazing, they were together 24/7 trying to make up for lost time. Maybe that was the problem, they just jumped back in like nothing had happened. No, he loved Nini he was just letting his parents situation influence his relationship with Nini. He wasn’t going to let go of one of the bests things in his life over dumb, past trauma. Ricky shut his eyes and tried to silence his mind until he let sleep take him over.   
When he woke up he felt like dirt. He had barely slept constantly overthinking his feelings for Nini. He knew she was the one he just couldn’t get past what his parents relationship had done to him. After his shower he got dressed for school and hopped in his car. The first rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast was today and Ricky couldn’t wait to hang out with all of his friends again.   
Class came and went without very much drama. Thankfully that was all saved for after school. He walked in with Nini, hand in hand, feeling a little better since last night. They got into their labeled seats next to each other and waited for everyone else to come in. Natalie walked in with Kyle and Laura and shortly after that everyone else filled into their seats. The last ones in were Gina and E.J. they were excitedly talking to each other before sliding in their seats. He waited for Gina to look up then smiled and waved at her. She smiled back but waved at Nini and blew her a kiss. Apparently since Gina was with Ashlynn all the time her, Nini, Kourtney, and Gina had all grown considerably close.   
“Alright my little angels are we ready for our new show” Miss Jenn cheered. Everyone applauded and cheered each other on. “Okay so we’re going to start off with some vocal exercises and then I’ll have everyone pair off and run their lines while I work with Gina and E.J. okay?” They went through thirty minutes of vocal exercises and then went through the first twenty odd pages before pairing off together. Ricky and Nini were in a pair followed by Ashlynn and Big Red, Kyle and Kourtney, Seb and Carlos, and Jane and Laura. The rest of the ensemble cast were already working through choreography Carlos had given them yesterday. Ricky kept looking over at E.J. and Gina, they were marking the ball dance scene and E.J. had Gina wrapped in his arms. “They really look good together don’t they?” Nini said watching them with a smile. “Yeah, they do.” Ricky responding looking back at Nini. “Let’s run through these lines one more time. I wanna run through them with Big Red too since we have lines together.” “That’s a great idea Ricky! You’ve really become a theater nerd over the year” Nini said giggling. Ricky laughed back and went back to focusing on his lines, willing himself to focus on something that wasn’t Gina in E.J.’s arms.   
“Why are you interrupting the rare time I have with Ash?” Big Red asked eyes bulging. “Calm down dude, you’re hanging out with her on Saturday. You’re lines are mostly with me anyway what?” Ricky said confused. Big Red sighed “I’m sorry, I just really want to hang out with Ashlynn but everyday E.J. seems to be one step ahead of me” Red whined. “Well it looks like E.J.’s got his hands full” Ricky said with a eye roll. “Dude what is going on with you” Big Red asked. “What are you talking about Red?” “I’m talking about the fact that you keep looking at E.J. like you’re jealous of him.” “What are you talking about” Ricky sputtered out. “I know you and Gina got close last semester, but how close did you get?” Just then Miss Jenn closed out rehearsals letting Ricky breathe a sigh of relief. He knew Red wasn’t going to drop this but for the time being he could focus on his date tomorrow.   
The next day at school was pretty boring. Ricky went to class and the everything else was uneventful, but he was buzzing with excitement. He was ready to go on his date with Nini and get back to being with the person he loved all of the time. After school Ricky rushed home to shower and change before picking up Nini. He wore a pair of straight cut jeans with a simple v neck and a pair of vans. He grabbed a bomber jacket on his way out and shouted a goodbye to his dad. When he got to Nini’s place he rang the doorbell and waited for her to open the door. When she opened the door he saw she was wearing a pair of jeans, doc martens, a long sleeve sweater, and a camel colored coat. “These are for you” Ricky said sticking his hand out with a bouquet of flowers. “Ricky they’re beautiful, let me put them in water before we head out” Nini said running back in the house. Ricky came in and said hello to her moms before they headed out.   
They arrived at dinner at this new burger joint and sat in one of the booths. “I’m glad we did this Ricky. We haven’t hung out much since school started back” Nini said grabbing his hand. “I know, it’s been crazy busy with auditions and school work” Ricky said with a slight frown. They continued to talk about class and the play until they’re food came out. Ricky paid for their dinner and held the door open for her to walk out of the diner. The ride over to the bowling alley was silent with Ricky just listening to his music and Nini casually humming along. When they pulled up to the bowling alley Nini looked wary. Ricky pulled her out of the car “come on Neens it’ll be fun.” “What if I get some weird foot infection or something” Nini said with a quizzical look on her face. “I brought socks for this specific occasion” Ricky said pulling her into the alley.   
It was teen night at the bowling alley and there were a decent amount of people from their school there tonight. Ricky paid for their shoes and grabbed their bowling balls while Nini grabbed some waters and snacks. “You just ate Nini” Ricky laughed. “Yeah well I need snacks it doesn’t matter how full I am” she groaned. Ricky laughed and set up the first game. They played for two hours and Nini had pulled off two wins out of the five games they played. It was a fun night and they needed this. When he pulled up to Nini’s house he kissed her and pressed their foreheads together. She rubbed her nose against his “I need to head inside.” Ricky groaned “I know but I don’t want you to leave.” Nini laughed and opened the door “hey I love you Ricky.” Ricky smiled shouting an I love you back before pulling out of the driveway.   
Ricky rolled down his windows and blasted music letting the cold weather in to cool him down. He felt like a new person. His parents relationship apparently making him doubt his own. Ricky got home and called out to his dad letting him know he was there before heading upstairs. Once he hit his bed he opened his phone scrolling through Instagram. It was then that he saw a picture E.J. posted that looked like a candid from rehearsals yesterday with Gina in his arms. The caption was: the beauty to my beast followed by a couple of emojis. Ricky eyed the photo. Gina looking up at E.J. with the brightest smile he thinks he’s ever seen her with. It suddenly becomes hard for him to swallow as he tries to pick out a flaw in the picture of the two. Ricky decided to do what he knew he shouldn’t. He opened up his messages to text Gina.

_i thought your crush was on Mr. Mazzara not E.J._

_Just for your information it’s neither. E.J. likes that picture of us so I told him to post it. Why are you keeping tabs on me Bowen  
_

_Just trying to do my best friend duties Mrs. Porter_

Ricky sent back letting go of the breathe he didn’t know he was holding. He didn’t know why Gina and E.J. hanging out together bothered him so much. He just felt like she was replacing him as a friend and it hurt. He couldn’t tell Gina that though, she would just be hurt all over again. Ricky texted Gina for another hour before they both decided it would be best to get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be busy enough as it is. 


	6. Punching in a dream

Gina woke up with a weird weighted feeling on her chest. Blinking away the sleep of last night, she looked down only to see Ashlynn staring into her eyes. Gina covered her eyes “Jesus Ash, what time is it?” “It’s like 10:30. This is the latest I’ve ever seen you sleep in.” “Well I figured since were going to be at a party all night I might need rest.” Gina ground out before climbing out of bed and stretching out her joints. She’s need an epsom salt bath to soothe her aching muscles from all the dancing she’d been doing recently. She was rolling her shoulder, working out its kinks, when she realized Ashlynn was still staring at her. “What?” Gina questioned. “You know you could tell me if you still liked Ricky right?” Ashlynn said studying Gina’s facial expressions. “Jesus, what is with you Caswells. Ash honestly I’m fine, me and Ricky are just friends.” “So does that mean you’ll promise to flirt with a few of E.J.’s friends tonight?” “Ashlynn, I’d kind of just like to hangout with my friends.” “Mhmm, look if you wanna get over Ricky you need to get someone else.” Gina mulled over her statement and nodded. “I’ll do my best. Fair enough?” Ashlynn squealed with excitement wrapping Gina in a hug. “I know I’m riding up with Ricky but you have to send me a pic of what you’re going to wear!” Ashlynn exclaimed. Gina agreed and set everything up for her bath.   
Even though she agreed to Ashlynn’s idea, it didn’t mean Gina would actually go through with it. She liked hanging out with her friends and all of them would be there so she would be plenty occupied. Her mind wondered off to Ricky and their conversation last night. It felt like he was slightly jealous of her and E.J., but she knew that couldn’t be true. Ricky and Nini had been tied at the hip since winter break. Even if they weren’t Ricky didn’t feel that way about her. She thought about that night at homecoming. The intimate moment lasted only seconds, but felt like it had been burned in her mind for hours. Before thanksgiving she would’ve sworn they were going somewhere. Really though, he was still hung up on Nini and they were just close friends. Gina nodded satisfied with her conclusion. Knowing Ricky didn’t like her in that way helped her place her in a box labeled just friends. The box may now have a fragile sticker taped around it in bold letters, but Ricky would be in there for as long as she could keep him.   
Gina got out of the bath then showered and did the rest of her routine. After optioning her legs, she got dressed for the day. She and E.J. had to take all of the food and drinks up to the house along with some tables and decorations so she just threw on some sweats and air forces. When she walked downstairs she was greeted with the smell of fresh pancakes and the sound of two cousins bickering at the island countertop. “Well good morning to you guys too. What’s going on?” “Oh Ashlynn decided it would be a great idea to hangout with Nini all day so she could ride up to the house with Big Red.” “Honestly E.J. I don’t know what your problem is!” yelled Ashlynn. “It’s going to be me, Nini, Ricky, and Big Red so it’s not like we’re going to be alone at any time.” Ashlynn argued. “Seriously E.J. Big Red is like the nicest guy ever. Just let her have some fun. Then you can keep an eye on them the whole party.” Gina said putting her hand on E.J.’s shoulder. He rolled his eyes and seemed to accept the idea of Ash riding with Big Red. When Gina turned to Ashlynn she saw the girl mouth thank you with her hands in a prayer pose and Gina snorted.   
The rest of the morning was uneventful. Gina and E.J. Spent the next two hours loading everything into E.J.’s car before they headed off to the house. After an hour drive they pulled up to the three story wood house. Gina stepped out of the car “this is your family home?” She said incredulously. “Yeah, it’s been past down a few generations, hence the man made lake.” E.J. stated pointing behind the house. Gina shook her head and laughed. She had no idea how she had become included in this family. E.J. grabbed most of the drinks while Gina took car of bringing the tables in the house. After they had been setting everything up for thirty minutes a few of E.J.’s friends came to help set up the rest. Ashley, Kyle, and Dylan were setting up the bar and E.J., Gina, and Brett were working on the decorations and putting away all of the valuables that could be broken. The spent another two hours making sure the house would survive the party. Ashley and Kyle were staying at the house so they could sign for the food that was being delivered and set up the beer pong tables.   
Once Gina hopped in the Jeep E.J. asked if she wanted to go grab a bite to eat, to which Gina nodded so they headed to Pizza Palace. Gina put on Frank Oceans blonde and hummed along to the album for most of the car ride. Once they pulled up to Pizza Palace they placed a to go order and sat at the bar waiting for it to get ready. While they waited, Gina pulled her chair closer to E.J.‘a resting her head on his shoulder while they looked over some ideas they had for their characters. E.J. turned to look her in the face “are you sure you’re gonna need to act in love with me. It looks like you already are.” he said mischievously. Gina laughed with her head still on his shoulder “you’ll never know Caswell.” She could feel his shoulder shake under her head when he started laughing. She couldn’t help but join along to the point where they were in hysterics. E.J. had to wrap an arm around her to keep her on her stool at one point. It was then that Gina felt someone wrap her in a hug. Looking over her shoulder she could see Nini’s face pressed against her cheek. Gina squealed and turned to wrap in a hug. As she was hugging Nini she realized Big Red, Ashlynn, and Ricky were all standing there. Ricky looked weird though. He was smiling but it seemed forced, not reaching his eyes enough for them to really light up. She saw Big Red pinch his elbow and he seemed to snap out of it and went up to hug Gina. “Hey what’re you guys doing here?” Gina asked. “We were just about to ask you guys the same thing. Ashlynn said you were setting up for the party.” Nini responded. “We already set up, I left Kyle and Ashley to sign for the food and finishing setting up. Gina and I still need to get ready for the party and we weren’t able to grab lunch.” E.J. said nodding. Gina had to admit Red and Ashlynn had been standing there for five minutes holding hands and he hadn’t tried to kill Red yet, so that was improvement.   
Just then Howie came out with their order and Gina and E.J. got all of their stuff ready to go. They said one last final goodbye to the group before they walked out of the restaurant. “I’ll let you know Gi, it took everything in me not to separate them.” “Aw look, our little E.J. is all grown up!” Gina said clapping. E.J. jokingly mocked her in return before they got buckled in and headed back to the house. “What was up with Ricky?” E.J. asked. “You saw that too?” “Yeah it looked like him and Nini had been fighting or something. She was fine though so I don’t know.” “It was weird for sure.” Gina said nodding.   
Once they pulled up to the house they grabbed the pizza out of the back seat and ate as quickly as possible. It was already close to six O’clock and they still had to freshen up and get dressed. They put on a hype playlist over the house speakers and went to their respective rooms to get ready. Gina showered off the sweat from the day and then went to work on her hair. She had straightened it early on in the morning but needed to freshen it up and fix the curls trying to pop back up again. Once she had her hair and makeup figured out she focused on picking an outfit. She put on a pair of thigh high boots with black tights. She then added a emerald green skirt and a black turtleneck under a knee length black leather jacket. She gave herself one more look over before she opened the door and stepped out of her room. She walked down the stairs and saw E.J. with his back to her. He had on a pair of tan trousers with a cream turtleneck layered with a navy jacket. Gina cleared her throat and he turned around. She was able to see the rest of his ensemble. He had on a silver necklace with a few silver rings on and matched it with a pair of white Nike cortezs’. Gina had to admit he looked damn good. E.J. finally closed his mouth and cleared his throat, a tinge of blush just noticeable on the tips of his ears.  
He opened the door and gestured for her to lead the way. She snickered and climbed in the car. Once they got in the car she opened her phone to text Ashlynn but realized the car hadn’t started moving. She turned to look at E.J. the question of why they weren’t moving about to roll off of her tongue, until she saw his face. There was a look of concentration on his face she hadn’t seen before. “Gi, you look amazing.” he said looking her over in her seat. Gina was all too aware of how small the car had suddenly gotten. Her heart started beating rapidly. Any response she could’ve came up with slipped her mind as she looked at his face. Then, just as suddenly as the moment had started; E.J. turned to face the front and started the car. He threw his arm behind her seat, lightly brushing her shoulder even to make her shiver, turning around to back out of the driveway. Gina was silent the rest of the ride. Stuck in her head, chewing her lip to take her mind off of that feeling in the pit of her stomach she had only felt for one other East high boy. Ashlynn did say she needed to get back out there, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean with her cousin.   
They arrived at the family home at 9 and once they walked in were greeted by fifteen odd people. None of the theater kids had arrived yet, it was mostly just E.J.’s water polo friends. E.J. grabbed her hand and pulled her through the house to meet everyone. By the time they were finished another ten people had shown up. She walked into the kitchen only to see Kyle and Ashley flirting in the corner while there were some wings cooking in the oven. Gina coughed a little to make her appearance aware causing the couple to split apart. “Gina you look amazing!” Ashley said before running up to her to twirl her, getting the full effect of the outfit. Ashley had on a pair of jeans, doc martens, and a cute v neck sweater with her hair twisted up in a clip. She was the epitome of the girl next door and Kyle could barely keep his eyes off of her. They talked in the kitchen for awhile before the party started kicking up into full swing. Most of the water polo team, including E.J., had congregated around the beer pong table and everyone else was spread out around the bottom floor either dancing or sitting around talking. All of a sudden she felt someone tap her shoulder. Turning her head to the left she saw Seb, Carlos, and Laura. She greeted each of them individually and walked them to the kitchen to fix them drinks.   
Seb was driving so he just got a water, but she made Carlos and Laura a cup of jungle juice each and walked them around the lower floor. The lights were dimmed enough to set the ambience of the night. The house only illuminated with color changing LEDS and sky lights. They walked out onto the back deck, which over looked the pool and lake, and Gina walked them down to the fire pit so they could hear each other talk better. “You and E.J. did great with setting this whole thing up,” Seb said with Laura and Carlos agreeing. “Gina shrugged scratching her arm “it wasn’t just us a bunch of E.J.’s friends came and helped out. It did turn out really good though” Gina said admiring the lights pouring out of the house. “We heard you made a good impression on Dylan and Brett.” Carlos said wiggling his eyebrows. Gina snorted “they barely talked to me the entire time we were setting up” she said. “I mean they’re nice guys, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve, maybe, said ten words to me.” “Um Gina, I don’t think they’re looking to do much talking.” Laura added. Gina shrugged, she honestly couldn’t care less about what Dylan and Brett felt. They weren’t her type either way.   
They talked for awhile about the show before they decided to head inside and mingle with the rest of the party goers. It was noticeably more crowded when they walked in and Gina had to squeeze her way through the crowd to get to E.J. He caught her making her way to him and smiled before turning back to the pong table and making the last cup. Dylan and Kyle missed their last two shots and the crowd around the table erupted in cheers from the crowd. The boys shook each other’s hands before E.J. and Kyle made their way over to Gina. “Impressed?” E.J. asked with one eyebrow raised. “Nah, not really.” Gina said shrugging with a smile on her face. “My moneys on Kyle next round.” “Here, here the lady has spoken.” Kyle said jokingly bowing to Gina. E.J. shoved him just to enough to make him lose his balance. “You say much more and she might actually believe she’s a princess,” E.J. yelled over the music. Gina made a face of mock offense with her hand held to her chest. “I cannot believe you would suggest that”.   
Kyle started laughing before pulling them to go find Ashley. They were halfway to the kitchen when she felt someone grab onto her wrist. Gina could hear Ashlynn yell her name before she turned to see who it was. Ash was wearing a pair of docs with a plaid dress and a sweater over the top of it. Gina hugged her and saw her other hand firmly in Red’s grasp. Gina grabbed it before E.J. could see it and used it to pull Red into a hug. “Where’s Ricky and Nini?” she heard E.J. shout. “I don’t know. They walked in with us but we must’ve gotten separated.” Red responded. Gina could feel herself subconsciously looking for curly brown hair over the crowd of people. She turned to walk with Ashlynn and Red into the kitchen. E.J. had loosened up enough to be cool with Ashlynn having a drink or two and was actually warming up to Red. They were exchanging Spotify playlists while her and Ashlynn were catching up with their days. Gina could feel E.J. staring at her every once in awhile, but every time she turned to catch him he had already turned his attention back to Red’s phone.   
It was then that she saw Brett walking up to her. He threw his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his chest a little. “You haven’t said hey to me all night Gi,” Brett said pouting a little bit. Gina stepped out of his grasp to laugh and pointedly say “probably because we’ve had maybe three conversations outside of today.” “Yeah but that doesn’t mean we can’t start.” Brett responded. Before she knew it E.J. was in front of Brett, blocking her from his view before telling him to go cool off. Gina thanked E.J., pulling him into a hug for saving her from a drunken conversation she so did not want to have. E.J. looked down at her “anything for you kid” he said just low enough for her ears to catch. She could feel the fluttering in her stomach, from when they were in the car, come back. Before she could say anything in response she heard the rest of their friends cheer as Nini walked into the cramped kitchen, Ricky in tow. He had his hand firmly wrapped in Nini’s, but his eyes were focused on E.J.’s hand rested lazily on Gina’s hip. Gina could feel his eyes staring at her causing her to look up. Instead of seeing his normal lazy smile, his mouth was pinched into a tight line while his eyes bore into hers. The normal warmth they usually held missing, though she couldn’t place what it had been replaced with. Before she could look any closer he turned to face Kourtney who had come in after them.   
Gina tried to listen in on the conversation but couldn’t stop staring at Ricky wanting to get another glance of his face to try and understand the interaction that had just happened. She was lost in thought when she suddenly felt E.J. give her hip a squeeze before leaning down to whisper in her ear “you’re staring.” Gina nodded turning to hop up on the kitchen island next to Ashlynn and Nini, delving into the conversation they were having. She had to focus all her attention on what they were saying so she wouldn’t end up staring at Ricky again. “I need another drink, do you want one too?” Ashlynn asked Nini and Gina. Before she could get up though, E.J. called out “I got it, y’all stay put” pushing off the counter facing them to go towards the drink area further in the kitchen. When he came back he handed everyone their drinks, Gina’s last. As he went to hand her her drink he pulled back before her fingers could wrap out. “What’s the magic word” he drawled out. Gina smirked “please” she said appreciating him trying to distract her. Just as she was about to grab it again he pulled back. “Oh so that’s what we’re doing huh” Gina stated trying to reach his arm to pull it down. E.J. finally let her grab the cup, but by the time he had finally handed it over, he was standing squarely between her knees. Gina let the drink slide down her throat appreciating the action giving her a distraction. E.J. leaned close to Gina “well if he wasn’t watching you before, he definitely is now,” he said nodding subtly towards Ricky leaning next to Nini. Gina’s face scrunched up “I’m trying not to pay attention to that right now, thank you.”  
E.J. smiled at this and was about to say something before she was pulled off of the counter by Nini and Ashlynn. They pulled her through the hazed crowd of people heading up the stairs to go find an open bathroom. “What the hell was that?” Ashlynn said as soon as the door closed. “What was what” Gina said innocently. “What was going on with you and E.J.” Nini asked excitedly. “It’s nothing, he’s just being nice and making sure none of the guys on the water polo team get too touchy feely” “yeah well seeing as he’s the only one touching you, I’d say he’s doing a pretty damn good job” Ashlynn said looking at Gina with a smirk. Gina could feel her face heating up “it’s nothing guys seriously he’s just been drinking and flirting a bit, that’s it though.” “He hadn’t been drinking when we saw you two at Pizza Palace this afternoon” Nini said smiling. Gina just laughed them off, trying to distract them by saying she wanted to dance. Thankfully they were both tipsy enough to agree without a second thought. They snaked their way into the most crowded part of the living room hand in hand. All of the lights by Kanye west was blasting over the stereo and the mass of people were dancing in sync to the beat. Gina closed her eyes and felt herself loosen up. Happiness bubbling out of her enough to make her laugh as she had her two friends right next to her. She turned to her right only to find Laura, Seb, Carlos, and Kourtney dancing with them. Sky by playboi carti came on and the living room reached a deafening level with the screams of excitement. They ended up lazy dancing to a few more songs, cups in hand before Gina felt someone slide behind her. She turned around and found E.J. Yelling the lyrics to the money by The Weeknd along with her. A smile forming on her face as she sang and danced with all of her friends.   
They went through a couple of more songs before she needed to get some air and slid out of the crowd. She grabbed a water bottle and walked out of the open French doors onto the back deck looking out to the water. She looked out at the reflection of the moon onto the lake and smiled at how far she had come this year. She never would’ve gone to a party before this, let alone would’ve been invited to one. Just as she was fondly thinking about all of her friends, a cough interrupted her thoughts. She felt someone walk up to stand next to her on her left hand side. She looked over to find the person she had been looking forward to seeing the most that night. Ricky turned his head to look into her eyes “hey” he said. “Hey. How’s your night going?” Gina responded. “It’s alright, obviously not as good as yours.” “What’s that supposed to mean” Gina questioned. “I mean you bagged your crush.” Ricky said with a shrug of his shoulders “seems like a pretty good night for you”. He sounded cold and distant in a way that he had never been with her. “Nobody has “bagged me” Ricky. E.J.’s just making sure none of the polo guys bother me. Ricky let out a chuckle “is that what he told you. I could’ve sworn he was one of those guys” he said shrugging. “Okay what the hell. First it’s none of your business. Second, we’re still just friends nothing more.” Gina said arms crossed turning to face Ricky head on. “If that’s what you think then okay. But any guy that’s seen you tonight is bound to have some sort of feelings for you.” Gina felt her heart race. Ricky had to have been talking about E.J. there’s no way he was talking about himself. “Ricky....” Gina started. Just as she was about to ask him what he meant Kyle and Ashley walked out onto the deck. “There you are Gi, we were looking for you” Kyle said dragging Gina back into the house. Gina craned her neck trying to get one last look at Ricky before he escaped her eyesight. By the time she turned around he had already turned back to the lake and she was only looking at his back.   
She was lead back to the beer pong table where Kyle and Ashley were getting ready to play against Brett and Laura. E.J. was standing across the other side of the table watching the game start. Gina wanted to go back out to Ricky and ask him what he meant, but she new it would be a bad idea to go back out there. Instead she looked at E.J. His hair was slightly tousled from all of the body heat of the party and his shirt had wrinkled a little, but Gina had to admit he looked good. She could see what Nini and every other girl in school saw in him. He was charismatic, good looking, on the water polo team, and he could sing. That was basically the high school heart throb trifecta. Gina knew she should be into him, but in the back of her head she still had that prickling thought of curly hair and brown eyes that stopped her in her tracks. She just wanted to be over Ricky. There was no way they could or ever would become a thing, and there was E.J. That moment in the car was intense, but she didn’t know if it was all in her head. He was basically flirting with her as a favor so she wouldn’t have to deal with unwanted attention. Feeling her thoughts starting to snowball she went off in search of Ashlynn. She found her down by the fire pit with some other people that none of them really knew.  
She was walking up when she saw Red and Ashlynn kiss and she started squealing running up to them. “Please tell me you guys are official now.” Gina said begging. “Yeah I finally got the courage to ask her to be my girlfriend” Red said smiling. Gina pulled him into a hug and mouthed oh my god over his shoulder at Ashlynn. The other girl giggled “I know right. But we are still going to need that favor. You getting E.J. out of the house so we can go out without him panicking. Honestly, the way he was looking at you tonight you probably wouldn’t even have to ask. He might offer it himself” Ashlynn said snorting. Red’s eyes went wide “so are you and E.J. a thing now?” he asked. “No, I don’t know why everyone keeps asking that.” Gina said frowning. “Maybe it’s because he looked like he wanted to shove his tongue down your throat when we were in the kitchen” Red said shrugging. “What” Gina cried almost spitting out her water. “Did you seriously not notice that back there” Ash asked looking at Gina weirdly. “Well, I knew there was a new weird vibe, but I thought I was just making it up” Gina said. “You’re definitely not making anything up that’s for sure” Red said nodding. Gina swallowed the rest of her water nervously.   
Nini came walking up to them with an obvious pout resting on her face. “Somethings up with Ricky” Nini said with an annoyed tone. “What’re you talking about?” Ashlynn questioned. “I don’t know. He’s been acting weird ever since we got here. I don’t know if it’s because he’s the DD or something else.” “It’s probably because he’s DD” Gina chimed in. “No, it’s got to be something else. He’s been acting weird ever since school started. I thought we were back on track after last semester but somethings off. I don’t know how to explain it.” Nini said staring off into the distance. Just then she caught Red and Ashlynn making a face at each other off the side and she made a mental note to ask Ash about it. “He might just be trying to adjust after winter break. Y’all were with each other all the time and now you’re adjusting to less time with each other.” Gina offered. Nini nodded, but she was obviously not satisfied with the answer. Thankfully she caught sight of Ricky and ran off to go interrogate him about the issue. Red and Ashlynn huddled together and were talking in hushed whispers so Gina got up to make her way back to the kitchen to grab some food.  
She was going to grab a slice of pizza when she heard someone call her name. Only for her to turn around and find Ricky looking at her. “Can we talk” he asked. Gina nodded making her way up to the second story of the house. Ricky followed telling Carlos that Gina was just showing him to the bathroom so no one got any ideas about anything. Gina was able to look at him in the brightness of the fluorescent lights and noticed he wasn’t in his regular attire. “You look nice” she said nodding. He scoffed “we both know I don’t look half as good as you.” Gina hesitated “was there something you wanted to say Ricky” “yeah, I wanted to apologize. I was an ass. I’m just not really in the party mood I guess.” Gina’s face softened at his tone “you wanna talk about it?” She asked. “Maybe later, I just wanted to say sorry about earlier. I know you and E.J. don’t have anything going on.” Ricky said. “About that, we might be going out soon. Just a date, but it hasn’t been fully discussed yet” Gina said rocking on the heels of her boots. Ricky nodded slowly, his arms crossed “that’s great, I guess. Just thought you were better than that” Ricky said echoing the same sentiment he made at homecoming.  
“Ricky if there’s something you want to say just say it” Gina snapped. “If I could say what I wanted to say I wouldn’t be where I am right now.” Ricky said through clenched teeth. “Okay, well whenever you want to man up and have a conversation, let me know.” Gina said before turning on her heels. Ricky’s hand reached out instinctively grabbing her arm and pulling her back “wait Gi.” Gina’s back was still facing him. She knew if she turned around they would be close enough that she could feel his breathe fan over her face. She closed her eyes and tried to will her arm to pull itself back into its body. Her arm felt like it was burning under his touch and the scent of mahogany had completely filled her senses. She finally turned to face him. “Gi” he let out, barely a whisper. She felt his thumb brush a piece of her hair off her cheek and she thought her legs were going to cave in. Images of Nini snapped her out of her reverie and she pulled her arm out of his grasp. “What the hell is wrong with you” she spat out.“Gina” he started, but before he could get out another sentence Gina had backed out of the room and started running down the stairs.  
Once she hit the last step she ran straight into someone. Stumbling out an apology she looked up and found E.J. staring down at her. “You okay?” he whispered brushing a stray tear that had fallen on her cheek. She shook her head “yeah just was overthinking things like always.” Gina looked around and realized the crowd was starting to thin. Kyle had climbed onto the kitchen island with a microphone in his hand. The screech of it turning on caught everyone’s attention in the house and everyone turned to him. “I just want to say a huge thank you to the Caswells for throwing this absolute rager of a party” he started. “But it’s now getting late and we need to wrap this up. If you have a DD catch up with them and if you’ve had a little too much, just grab a room upstairs to crash in.”   
At that announcement most of the crowd started to congregate in the groups they had arrived in. Some people started making their way up the stairs immediately which everyone was appreciative of. Gina made her way to the kitchen getting started on cleaning up some of the food. Soon the rest of the theater kids were in there saying goodbye and asking if she needed a ride home. “No I’m fine, I’ll just get E.J. to drive me home or something” Gina said shrugging. Ashlynn, Nini, and Big Red made their way up to her saying their goodbyes. Ashlynn asked if she was coming home tonight and Gina nodded saying she’d meet her there. Ricky hugged the wall looking everywhere but at Gina. She rolled her eyes looking away. E.J. walked in the kitchen a couple of minutes after their friends had left. “Ready to head home” he asked. “Yeah but what’re you going to do about the rest of the people sleeping here” she questioned. “Most of them are my friends. Kyle and Ashley are gonna keep an eye on everyone for the night anyway” he said grabbing his coat and hers from the closet. He opened the front door and the heat from the party left her body. Gina started shivering and E.J. swiftly wrapped her jacket around her shoulders while they walked to the car. Once they got onto the road Gina settled into the heated leather seats and wrapped herself in E.J.’s spare sweatshirt from the backseat. She had a really good night, even if Ricky kept dragging her down a hole she could barely dig herself out of. She turned to look at E.J. His jaw was locked in place, fingers strumming along to the beat of the song playing over the radio.  
He turned to look at her “what? Is there something on my face” E.J. asked automatically trying to wipe away whatever was on his face. Gina laughed “no I just wanted to thank you for making sure I was comfortable tonight. Even if it did involve some fake flirting” Gina said smiling. E.J. turned to look at her “who said I was faking” he said with a smirk. “Ha ha ha very funny” Gina said, watching as they pulled into the driveway. E.J. grabbed her hand stopping her from getting out of the car. “I’m not joking Gi” he said his eyes searching hers for something. The same tension that was in the car earlier in the night was back. Gina couldn’t look away from E.J. She felt his hand slowly slide up her face, his face slowly inching towards hers waiting for her to pull away. Gina stayed still, holding her breath waiting for the bubble to burst. Then his lips glided over hers and the breath she had been holding finally gave way. E.J. pulled away just enough for their noses to barely be touching. Gina swallowed thickly “we should probably go inside.” E.J. nodded, his hand that was cupping her face slowly falling. Before he had the chance to open his door Gina grabbed him slanting her mouth over his trying to push all of her feelings into the kiss. Gina slowly backed away smiling, E.J. laughing with his forehead pressed against hers. “We should probably go inside before Ashlynn catches us.” E.J. Whispered with his hand still holding her in place. “Yeah we probably should huh” Gina replied with a smirk. Suddenly E.J.’s lips were back on hers and they both gave in to the feelings that had been blossoming the whole night. The shine of bright lights behind them caused them to slowly pull apart. “Who the hell is that” E.J. questioned.  
Next thing they knew Ashlynn was staring at them through E.J.’s driver side window. Gina sighed, of course they had gotten home before Ashlynn. Ricky lived closest to Ashlynn so it only made since that she would be the last person to get dropped off. Gina and E.J. slid out of the car to a gloating Ashlynn. Gina turned to look at Ricky’s car, but he was looking anywhere but at her. Gina sighed and headed up the steps of the house with Ashlynn right behind her. Gina didn’t realize just how tired she was until she got to her room and took off her boots. She slid on an oversized t shirt and some satin shorts and got ready for bed. Suddenly she felt her phone buzz on her night stand.   
Bowen: 

_I_ _wish_ _that would’ve been me._


	7. If you were supposed to be mine, you’d already be mine

Ricky was already running late, what he didn’t need was for Red to be late too. Ricky laid down on his horn two more times before Red came running out of the basement. He looked like he had just survived a hurricane with his jacket half on and one shoe in hand. He laughed at the sight before unlocking his car and reaching over to open the door. “What the hell took you so long man” Ricky asked. “Do you want me to look a mess for my first sort of date Ricky? Beauty takes time.” Big Red said sliding on his other sneaker. “Yeah well beauty is making us late to pick up our dates” Ricky said pointedly.   
Big Red swallowed and then began to pale. “What if she hates us for being late” Big Red said with panic settling on his face. Ricky laughed “Nini probably already said we were late because of me so why don’t we just stick with that story before you faint.” Ricky said pulling out of Big Reds driveway. Ricky spent the rest of the ten minute drive across the suburbs trying to quell Red’s increasing anxiety. By the end of the drive he really thought Red might faint. Once Ricky had pulled into Nini’s driveway, he put the car in park and looked at his best friend. “You’re gonna do great, she likes you already and is willing to go on a double date just so she can ride with you.” Ricky said hoping he was giving an encouraging smile. Red started to breathe again and the color slowly started to return to his face.   
It was at that moment the Nini opened her front door and her and Ashlynn started making their way to the car. Ricky waved at Nini’s moms shouting that he’ll take care of everyone. Big Red opened the door for and climbed into the backseat so he could sit in the back with Ash. Nini slid into the front seat whispering a hey and giving Ricky a kiss. Ricky finally took in Nini’s appearance. She was wearing a black knee length dress with an orange cropped sweater and a pair of black doc martens to tie it all together. She looked good, and he could feel a smile sliding onto his face.  
Nini was his port in a storm. She reminded him of the good in people, she was kind and warm. They had been together for as long as he could remember, first as friends then as something more. He thought he could survive off of her love for the rest of his life. His dreams were wherever Nini was in life. Then his parents started having problems, which bled into his relationship with Nini. She had a stable family home for the entirety of her life. She believed that love could prevail all. So when she wanted him to say those three little words, they got caught in his throat. She was his port in a storm. If he said those words he could never take them back, and in his life those three words couldn’t save everything. It didn’t matter that he wanted to say them, he just couldn’t. He ran and she went to camp and left him in the dust.   
Que Gina Porter. She came in like a storm, upturning everything he thought he knew about his life. Nini was blessed with the fact that he didn’t understand what Ricky was going through and he couldn’t blame her for that, but he was angry. Angry she had a stable home life and that she had replaced him in the span of three months just like his mom had replaced his dad. Gina, on the other hand, knew exactly what he felt. She listened and didn’t try to make him feel better about a shit situation, she let him just talk. He came to become dependent on her being in his life. So, when she vanished with no explanation, it felt like he was abandoned all over again. When Nini wanted him back after the show, he was back at his port in a storm and everything was alright again. Except it wasn’t alright. He missed Gina and the way that she would laugh at all his corny jokes because she had never heard them before. The way her hair tickled his face every time she would jump into his arms. The fact that she spent hours watching YouTube videos to keep herself busy because she’d been on her own for so long. She was abandoned, just like him. He chose Nini though and he had to make this work, he couldn’t take losing another person.   
Finally pulling himself out of his thoughts he pulled out of the driveway and they made their way to Pizza Palace so they could get dinner before heading to E.J.’s party. They all climbed out of Ricky’s car and he slid his arm around Nini’s shoulders while he opened the door for them. Big Red ushered them to his favorite booth against the window until Nini stopped them in their tracks. She pulled them over to the countertop where E.J. and Gina were. She had her head rested on his shoulder watching a video with him. They looked comfortable with each other. Like they had done this every night since she had moved in with the Caswells. His head immediately started hurting from the onslaught of scenarios his brain pushed to the forefront of his mind. She hugged Nini and they all talked for awhile. Ricky couldn’t muster up the courage to even look her in the eyes, worried his eyes would show the thoughts playing in his mind. They finally got up and left and Ricky managed to breathe again. Vanilla and lavender swallowing him and making his brain go hazy. Once they piled into the booth he finally tuned back into their conversation. “I can’t believe he didn’t choke me the minute he saw me” said Red with a sigh of relief. “I think he was too busy paying attention to Gina” Nini said in a hushed voice. “What’re you talking about?” Ricky asked, eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know, they seem to have gotten pretty close since she moved back. I can tell E.J. has feelings for her. Have you noticed anything?” Nini asked Ashlynn. “Not really, I mean they go out and get food together sometimes and I asked her to force him out of the house so me and Red could go out. Other than that though, nothing much has happened.” Ashlynn said shrugging.   
Ricky pushed around at the pizza in front of him, trying to make himself feel better about the fact that Ashlynn hadn’t noticed anything. “Ricky are you okay?” Nini asked placing a hand on his arm. He offered up a weak smile “yeah just tired is all.” Nini nodded whispering an “okay” and focusing back on what Red and Ash were saying. Shortly after they got their food Kourtney walked in in all of her glory. Ricky smiled slowly clapping, making her twirl before sitting down at the end of the booth. “You always know how to make an entrance” Ricky said smiling and shoving her shoulder. “It’s not my fault I look damn good all the time” Kourtney said laughing. Ricky nodded and tried to eat some more pizza drifting in and out of the conversation.   
“When are we headed down to the party?” Ricky asked after he checked his watch. “I don’t know Gina said she would text me when her and E.J. left” Ash responded. Ricky nodded before turning to Kourtney “who are you riding with Kourt?” “Didn’t Nini tell you?” Kourtney then raised a pair of keys dangling them in front of his face. “You got a car?” Ricky mumbled with a mouth full of pizza. “I sure did” Kourtney said smiling. The gang all ran to the window to see Kourtney’s new ride and congratulate her. “If you want I can talk Red and Ash to the party so that y’all can have some alone time” Kourtney said to Ricky and Nini. “It’s fine Kourt, if E.J. Sees Red walk in without us he might strangle him.” Nini said laughing. “Ha ha ha very funny let’s all laugh at my pain. Why not” Red said in visible distress. “E.J.’s harmless” Ashlynn said looking at Red. “Yeah if you’re related to him” Ricky snorted. The rest of the table laughed and Nini went to check her phone. “Gina just sent me and Ash the text that they’ve left. You guys ready to head out?” Nini asked. “Yeah, lemme just pay for the food and then we’ll head out” Ricky said, leaning over to give Nini a quick kiss.   
He was in a better mood since he had eaten and was glad he had his friends around him to distract him from his thoughts. After Ricky paid for the food they all headed out into the parking lot to cram into their cars. “Hey, I’ll meet you guys up there. I’m gonna grab some gas real quick” Kourtney yelled at them across the parking lot. Nini nodded before calling out an i love you and be safe to Kourtney. He started the car and made his way out of the parking lot deciding to follow Kourtney to the gas station and fill up so that she could follow them to the house.   
The rest of the ride went smoothly. Nini and Ashlynn switched between playlists with the whole car singing along to most of the songs. Ricky rested his hand on Nini’s leg and let himself fall back into the safety of her surrounding. Once they pulled up to the Caswell family home there were about twenty cars parked on the property. Ashlynn and Big Red hopped out of the car “let’s go in and find Gi” Ashlynn called out. Just as Ricky was about to get out of the car Nini grabbed his hand. “We’ll catch up with you guys in a minute” she called out. “What’s going on?” questioned Ricky. “You seem different. Like somethings off” Nini says looking in his eyes. “Nothings off Nini, it’s just been a long week.” Ricky sighed. “Over winter break, it felt like when we first started dating. That sort of has changed recently” Nini said thickly. “I’ve changed neens, we’ve changed. You can’t expect us to just go back to exactly where we were when we first started dating.” Ricky said pleading with his eyes to try and make her understand. Nini nodded “we don’t have to talk about this now, let’s just have fun for tonight”. Ricky nodded, leaning over to slide his hand up her face and kiss her. They got out of the car and Nini lead the way with Ricky’s hand laced in hers.   
When they walked in, they could feel the bass of the music in their chests. He could tell Nini was starting to get excited and he made a mental note to leave his sour feelings at the door. Ricky scanned the room trying to find any of their friends but coming up empty. Nini turned to him and shouted over the music “they’re in the kitchen”. She pulled him through the crowd and led him into the slightly crowded separated room. Ricky heard the cheer of his friends before he made the corner. He waved to Kyle and Ashley and was about to move towards Big Red and Ashlynn before he saw it. He couldn’t move. Tanned skin under emerald green fabric stopped him in his tracks. Her hair was straight. She told him once she only straightened her hair in special occasions, he hoped it wasn’t special because of him. The body attached to the hand currently resting on her left hip, leaned in whispering something into her ear. E.J. Caswell, the man who had stolen the girl he loved once already, but he didn’t love Gina. Well, he loved her as a friend and was just worried about her. At least that’s what he was telling himself.   
Nini jumped up on the island counter top and Ashlynn soon followed suit. He moved to put his hand on Nini’s knee and zoned in on the conversation they were having. “There’s drinks around the corner if you guys want to grab something” Kyle offered. “Nah, I’m all good” Ricky said pulling out his car keys “DD for the night.” Kyle nodded “Sucks to be that guy but it’s better you than me” Kyle added before clapping Ricky’s shoulder. Ricky laughed and pulled Nini closer to him noting Red and E.J. apparently getting along. He was happy to see his friends anxiety leave him for the first time that night and Ricky felt his mood lighten increasingly. Ashlynn and Nini asked for drinks and he heard E.J. offer to go grab it for them. Ricky turned to go grab some food and by the time he turned around E.J. was back. Only he was hovering between Gina’s legs trying to get her to grab the drink out of his hands. Ricky looked down for a moment gathering his emotions. When he looked back up she had her hand reaching out to grab his arm, the other hand bracing herself on his shoulder. He scratched his jaw and gripped Nini’s hand trying to focus on anything but what was happening in front of him. It was then that Nini and Ashlynn hopped off of the counter and pulled Gina along with them. Ricky watched the girls walk off before he let his shoulders relax and felt his head roll back. He was about to go follow them out to the back deck before E.J. stepped into his line of sight. “E.J. how’ve you been man”, Ricky said sticking out his hand for him to shake. E.J. grabbed it, using it to pull Ricky towards the older boy. “You care to tell me why you’re looking at me like I’ve stolen your girl again” E.J. whispered close enough for only Ricky to hear. “E.J. whatever I do is none of your business. I’m not looking at you like anything, I’ve just had a rough week” Ricky said hoping he would just drop it. E.J. shook his head “you have no clue do you” he laughed and then walked away leaving a confused Ricky behind.  
Ricky went out back looking for Nini, wanting to wrap her in his arms so he could feel grounded by something, anything. By the time he walked onto the back deck his friends were no where to be found. Ricky stared onto the lake trying to find a reason why he was still at this party, other than being a DD. He turned to walk inside and saw all of his friends dancing to the music and he smiled. He was glad that he had friends he could count on but he really needed to talk to Big Red. Ricky had lucked through the entire lower floor squeezing through the massive crowd before he decided to walk back onto the deck. He walked up to the railing before letting out a low cough, just enough to let her know he was there. Ricky could feel her looking at him causing the hair on the back of his neck to raise. He turned to face her, the glow of the moon lighting up the side of her face. “Hey. How’s your night going?” Gina asked. He swallowed “it’s alright, obviously not as good as yours.” “What’s that supposed to mean” she questioned. “I mean you bagged your crush.” Ricky said with a shrug of his shoulders “seems like a pretty good night for you”. He could feel himself shut down. “Nobody has “bagged me” Ricky. E.J.’s just making sure none of the polo guys bother me. Ricky let out a chuckle “is that what he told you. I could’ve sworn he was one of those guys” he said shrugging. His annoyance over the situation slowly increasing. “Okay what the hell. First it’s none of your business. Second, we’re still just friends nothing more.” Gina said with her arms crossed turning to face him head on. “If that’s what you think then okay. But any guy that’s seen you tonight is bound to have some sort of feelings for you.” Ricky said trying to push every emotion he was feeling into that one statement. Ricky felt like he was going to scream. Waiting for her response became too agonizing, he wanted her to say something. “Ricky....” she started. The moment was interrupted when Kyle and Ashley walked out and stopped whatever she was going to say. “There you are Gi, we were looking for you” Kyle said dragging Gina back into the house. Ricky turned looking back out onto the lake only left with the subtle scent of vanilla and lavender.   
Ricky walked back into the house looking for Nini, needing to feel grounded again. He caught up with her in the kitchen grabbing her waist and pulling her towards him. She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck placing a light kiss on his lips. “Where have you been” she asked. “Our back looking at the water. It’s soothing” Ricky said as he ran his fingers through her hair. Nini studied his face before caressing his cheek. “Is there something going on with your parents again” she asked. “Nini, I wasn’t but now I am” Ricky said pulling away. “Ricky I’m sorry, but you’ve been off recently and I just wanted you to know that if you needed to talk to someone I’m here!” Nini cried. “Ricky shrugged out of her hold “Nini I love you but not everything is about my parents okay.” He then made his way out of the kitchen to go find Big Red.   
He made a lap around the floor twice trying to find Big Red before he saw him and Ashlynn huddled together near the fire out back. Ricky sighed and turned back to go to the kitchen but saw Gina alone so he called out her name. She turned to look at him “can we talk” he shouted. She nodded in response and guided him up the stairs to the second floor. He called out to Carlos that she was showing him the bathroom so he wouldn’t be suspicious of anything. Once they were in the bathroom the sound of the party faded away. He could feel his heartbeat thudding in his ears before giving her a once over. Even under the harsh fluorescent lights she still looked like the sun itself had kissed her.   
He saw her look him over “you look good” she stated. “ we both know I don’t look half as good as you” he said willing his eyes to portray his honesty. “Was there something you wanted to ask Ricky” Gina said. “yeah, I wanted to apologize. I was an ass. I’m just not really in the party mood I guess.” Ricky could feel her soften her hard exterior at that. “you wanna talk about it?” She asked. “Maybe later, I just wanted to say sorry about earlier. I know you and E.J. don’t have anything going on.” Ricky said. “About that, we might be going out soon. Just a date, but it hasn’t been fully discussed yet” Gina stated. Ricky nodded slowly, he felt his anger building up in his chest. His arms crossed “that’s great, I guess. Just thought you were better than that” he said echoing his same sentiment from homecoming.  
“Ricky if there’s something you want to say just say it” Gina snapped. “If I could say what I wanted to say I wouldn’t be where I am right now.” Ricky said through clenched teeth. “Okay, well whenever you want to man up and have a conversation, let me know.” Gina said before turning on her heels. Ricky’s hand reached out instinctively grabbing her arm and pulling her back “wait Gi.” Gina’s back was still facing him. He needed her to turn around. He needed her to see how much conflict he was under so she could fix it. He stepped forward until there was only an inch separating him. The smell of vanilla and lavender had completely invaded his senses and he just wanted to wrap his arms around her. He knew if she could hear his thoughts right now she would slap him. He almost wanted her to just to snap him out of the trance she put him under. She finally turned to face him. “Gi” he let out, barely a whisper. He felt his thumb brush a piece of her hair off her cheek on its own accord and his senses felt like they were being set on fire. He slowly inched towards her face hoping she would let him have this moment of pure peace, but he could feel her break out of the moment. “What the hell is wrong with you” she spat out.“Gina” he started, but before he could get out another sentence Gina had backed out of the room and started running down the stairs.   
He ran a hand over his face, turning and kicking the bed frame. He felt like he was suffocating in her smell and just needed to be able to breathe. He ran out of the room and down the stairs only to see her back in E.J.’s arms. He wished he could just grab her out of his arms and tell her everything he felt, hoping she would understand. He moved his way down the stairs looking for Nini so they could make their escape. He heard Kyle say something about the party being over but he couldn’t care he just needed to get out of there. Red, Ashlynn, and Nini found him and went to go say goodbye to their friends, including Gina. He managed to look everywhere except for in her eyes. He could feel Nini looking at him but couldn’t care.   
Once they were in the car and headed home he felt like he could breathe again. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight you could see the whites of his knuckles. The images of Gina and E.J. together kept playing over and over again in his head to the point where he wanted to scream. He dropped off Red first and then dropped off Nini walking her to her door before giving her a quick kiss telling her he’d talk to her tomorrow. She nodded, giving a slight smile before walking in the house. When Ricky climbed in the car Ashlynn had moved up to the passenger seat. “Ricky, if you need to talk you know I’m here for you. Right?” Ashlynn asked. Ricky looked at her “I messed up Ashlynn” Ricky said his voice shaking. “Ricky what’re you talking about” she asked placing a hand on his shoulder. “I need to break it off with Nini. I’m just not the same person she wants me to be.” Ricky said deciding to tell half of the truth instead of the rest. Ashlynn hugged him slowly rubbing his back “is that what you’ve been so stressed about recently?” Ash asked with worry in her eyes. “She’s going to hate me after this. Isn’t she?” “Ricky, I don’t think she’ll hate you. If you’re honest with her she’ll understand.” Ashlynn said trying to be reassuring.   
Ricky nodded putting the car in drive to bring Ashlynn to her place. “Gina and E.J. should be inside already so you can just pull into the driveway” Ashlynn said pointing past the gate. Ricky nodded pulling up to the house. His car lights flashed over E.J.’s Jeep and Ricky could’ve sworn he saw something moving. “Oh my god” Ashlynn whispered. Ricky turned just in time to see what she was talking about. E.J. still had his fingers wrapped in Gina’s hair, their lips had barely pulled apart. He sensed Ashlynn get out of the car, but the ringing in his ears stopped him from hearing if she said goodbye. He needed to see them get out of the car so that he knew that they would be separated, if even for a few steps. Ricky felt like he was going to be sick so he threw his car in reverse and floored it out of the driveway.   
It felt like he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to go back to opening night and walk back into the front hallway after the show. He never should’ve gotten back with Nini, there was a reason he couldn’t say I love you to Nini. It was because he didn’t need it. Ricky would’ve laughed at the revelation if it hadn’t come at such a shit time. Once Ricky pulled into his driveway he slammed his car door and rushed up the stairs to his room. He couldn’t stop his head from swimming and pulled out his phone before he could think. If she was supposed to be mine, she’d already be mine. He couldn’t drag her down just because he felt like he was starving to get a bit of her attention.   
Screw it.

_I wish that would’ve been me._

Ricky threw down his phone and sighed. Either he just ruined his life or saved it. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fic, but I absolutely adore the build up of Gina and Ricky and their relationship. Hope you enjoy and comments and edits are always welcome!


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